The U.S. Supreme Court heard last week the case of a Tulsa Muslim woman who didn’t get hired by the clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch because of the headscarf she wore.
According to NewsOK, Samantha Elauf received high marks on her first interview with an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2008. The employees who were in charge of hiring thought her traditional black headscarf would cause conflict with the company’s “look policy,” so the district manager advised them not to hire her.
Freshman Megan McKinley said Abercrombie & Fitch rejecting Elauf says a lot about the store.
“It’s kind of aiming their merchandise at people for one,” McKinley said. “They want a specific group of people to be shopping at their store and also that they have a very clear view of what kind of image they want to represent.”
Junior Michael Woods said the situation with Elauf was likely not intended to hurt or discriminate against her.
“I think their point was they wanted to keep that ‘look’ throughout the whole store,” Michael Woods said. “Inevitably, that led to them discriminating against her. But that wasn’t their initial intention, but that’s what it ended up being.”
McKinley said it was interesting the incident happened in Oklahoma.
“I think Oklahoma also has kind of a mindset on what the norm is,” McKinley said. “So for them, like Abercrombie & Fitch specifically, they want to cater to that. Oklahoma already has a picture of the successful middle class… And so I think that might be a little bit of a reflection about the cultures here in Oklahoma.”
The Supreme Court heard the oral arguments on Feb. 25 and will have their final decision this summer to determine if Elauf was a victim of racial or religious discrimination. The justices appear to favor Elauf, according to the Tulsa World.
Professor of History Gary Lindsey said he sees the case as religious discrimination. Depending on the outcome of the case, this type of discrimination could still happen, even after it is technically resolved.
“I would expect this to happen at some point in this country,” Lindsey said. “Humans are humans. We’re simple people and we see others who are different than ourselves as being less than us.”
Because of recent events in American history, there is a possible fear behind the discrimination, according to Lindsey.
“A lot of people have doubts about who Muslims are and what they actually believe,” Lindsey said. “But our tendency is, as humans, is to knock everybody into one category. … Humans have a tendency to view all Muslims the same way, as being guilty or being supportive of those attacks, which is not true.”
Lindsey said today’s culture has a lot to do with these issues.
“I think various things have happened in society over the last 50 years, from the 1960s to the present, that have altered the way society looks at itself and looks at others,” Lindsey said. “We’re all equal and we should treat each other as we want to be treated.”
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